Since it is an extraordinary year for all of us with most consumers, Disney saw a chance to release its latest big-budget sequel Direct-to-Disney Plus since global audience was home more than ever and with more time to stream. Sadly, Artemis Fowl, is the latest adaptation of the popular series, but unfortunately does little to take your mind off the present condition. Directed by Kenneth Branagh (Thor, Murder on the Orient Express) and writers Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl have taken the science fantasy novels of Eoin Colfer and transformed it into a mindless, overbearing and uninteresting animated film.
This abysmal story focuses on a teenager who hails from Ireland, long ago, drums fowls son, played by Gainsborough Shaw and adventurer Fowl organize to rescue Artemis who has been captured by an unseen aggressor seeking ransom. The Aculos in this film is a mystical relic, which is in great demand for it is said to open other-world doorways. Like many of the plotlines throughout the movie, the Aculos is no more than an empty shiny object that adds very naistingly little of substance unto the story.
One notable problem of the films is the pacing of the story, which becomes problematic especially when a new character is introduced. Even without having read the novels, it seems that the screenwriter’s and Bryan’s zealous essence is so strong that they are trying to put in more than the film will allow, which is about 95 minutes with cut to me. For instance, Artemis is a so-called exceptional hero(his profession along with the storyline has been emphasized that word over a lot) and we are so told, than it is rather hard to imagine him doing anything worth of an exceptional hero (this has been repeated many times) some more till there is enough of such things. Other than that and a quick immersion scene with Artemis therapist where he tries to understand the boy and states the things that excite and scare him, the screenwriters devote little time in revealing who Artemis is.
A relationship that can be placed in the category of ‘missed opportunity’ is that between Artemis and the fiery young fairy who also happens to be a crime-fighter, one Holly Short (Lara McDonnell). Both these protagonists in the film seem to exhibit some willingness to learn about their fathers, yet this particular dilemma is never fully developed. For Artemis, he wants to be surrounded by his father who is always fighting battles with no rest at home, while Holly wants to save her father’s honor back. Each of their respective storylines is given a rash Speed Bump and with these two, they do not click on anything apart from just trying to make it through the day. It’s as if you’re supposed to feel something more between these two characters that you never get to see in the actual film.
Indeed, these character development shortcomings go too moving the arms of the supporting cast, which certainly includes Judi Dench as Commander Root and more specifically Farrell, who becomes an afterthought by the second half of the film. There are also a few characteristics that come as a surprise; the dreadful discrepancies in how each actor has presented their lines, in this, is what falls as part of the trouble in imitation. Dench is reported to have pulled off a raspy voice that even makes Batman’s portrayal by Christian Bale, twisting in admiration. Also, there is Pan-Asian actor Josh Gad and, further on, he plays a “giant dwarf” Mulch Diggums who Yarashii cites as further tactitions.
In a way that is scandalous and gripping at the same time, Mulch appears to be the one character that you cannot help but stare at and wish away the entire film. In striking contrast to their behavior, which makes one think that they are all in the same fantastical world and all are just a touch too earnest about it, Gad lights up his character and quite efficiently describes himself as more of the film’s narrator, along with becoming the typically necessary source of laughable moments. It is like he’s the only one who knows what sort of film he is making.
The only times in which we see a little bit of life in the Artemis Fowl is in its action packed segments of film which includes some eyecatching visuals especially when the time freeze device is being used. This time-stopping trinket is employed by the fairies, allowing for frenetic action in the foreground while something like a tidal wave or a wedding is frozen in the background. But like any action packed scenes in the most of the visual treats, they soon somehow lost their appeal and was futile for what is otherwise a basic linear action-adventure fair.
The Verdict
Artemis Fowl is from Disney and succeeds in terms of promising exhilarating action setpieces and special effects but fails terribly in personalizing the characters. Unfortunately, the only person who is able to ‘meet or break’ the standard that Gad has set’s character, Mulch Diggums, is the narrator in the film. If Disney was hoping to turn Artemis Fowl into its next big franchise, this film is not a good preview of things to come.
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